X4
by estrafalaria103
Summary: Following X3, a few questions were left unanswered. What happens to Leech? Did the vaccine work? Where are our mutants now that the world seems finally to be at peace?
1. Chapter 1

He was a thief, and a damn good one, too. He didn't need anything to supplement his income. He didn't need more danger on his plate. And he definitely didn't need a partner.

None of which explained why he was walking around in broad daylight, glasses on his eyes, searching for a pretty brunette.

He noticed a tall woman, thin, sitting beside a chess set. He carefully eyed her up. Long legs, pretty blue eyes, jet black hair. That should be the one. He shoved one hand deep into a pocket of his trenchcoat, and cautiously felt around until he clutched a pair of cards. Better safe than sorry.

"Mystique?" he asked the woman. She smiled lazily at him.

"Thief?" she asked in return. He nodded his head sharply. "Come with me." She slowly unfolded those long legs, and snaked one arm around the one he held in his pocket. He didn't like being led anywhere that he didn't know about. But when working with Magneto, his desires always came second.

"What he want with me?" he growled. Mystique simply smiled and led him to a car parked along the side of the park. His eyes widened when he saw it.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" the woman asked, kicking him hard in the back so that he tumbled into the Mercedes. He caught himself on a seat, and sat down without too much embarrassment. Turning, he found himself face to face with Magneto.

"Heard you lost your powers," he said. Magneto smiled, and raised a hand. The thief gasped as one hand rose, pulled upwards by a small silver ring. "Guess they was wrong," he chuckled.

"It turns out," Magneto said in a silky voice, "that the vaccine is only temporary."

"Well, congratulations," the thief said, inclining his head. "But if you don't mind, I got work to do."

"Precisely my point," Magneto's grin grew even wider. "You're going to work for me."

"Bobby, I did it for you!" Rogue exclaimed, following her irate boyfriend down the hall. She didn't understand why he was so upset. After all, now they could be together, now some stupid curse of a mutation wasn't stopping her from living a semi-normal life.

"I didn't want this, Rogue!" he exploded, finally turning around to face her.

"I know," she said softly, reaching out and catching one of his hands. "But I did."

He shook his head, blue eyes looking lost and confused. "You don't understand," he said heavily. "You've not one of us any more. You weren't. . .you weren't there."

"But I'm here now, Bobby!"

"No," he shook his head. "You don't belong here anymore. Don't you see? My powers are everything. I gave up everyone. . .my family, my friends, my life for my powers. And yours. . .you just threw it away, Rogue!"

"Well your power wasn't ruining your life!" she spat, finally getting sick of his attitude. "All I can do with my power is hurt people! You can. . .you can make skating ponds, and little ice flowers!"

His expression had fallen when she'd mentioned a skating pond. He sighed, and ran a hand through his short blond hair. "You saw that?" he asked. Rogue sighed, and looked down, no longer willing to meet his eyes.

"Yeah," she said. "I saw that."

"I'm sorry," he said, squeezing her hand tightly. "But it's over."

"No," she shook her head in denial. "Bobby. . .don't tell me that. Bobby!" She hadn't noticed her voice rising in intonation and volume. But she did catch herself at the end, as she was working herself into a fit. She bit off the end of a scream, but it was too late. Doors were opening up and down the hallway, as students looked out. Ororo noticed the disruption as well, and hurried over.

"Rogue, what's wrong?" she asked tenderly, laying a hand on Rogue's bare shoulder.

"Nothing," the girl said, trembling. Ororo sighed. Rogue tensed. She might not be able to absorb people's memories or thoughts any more, but it didn't mean she was stupid. Whatever her teacher had to say, it wasn't going to be something she'd want to hear. She looked up into the other woman's deep brown eyes.

"I know this might be a bad time, Rogue, but we're running low on space," she said lowly. "And since you no longer need the. . .special. . .services of this school."

"Oh my God," Rogue said, raising a trembling hand to her mouth. "You're kicking me out."

"No, Rogue, not like that," Ororo protested. Rogue shook her head. There was no hiding behind semantics. She wasn't a mutant any longer, so she didn't belong at their school. She understood. She hated it, but she did understand.

"I'll pack my bags," she said, and turning around headed slowly back to her room. She could feel the eyes of everyone in the mansion watching her as she departed. Kitty tried to say something, but she ignored her. The only person she paid any attention to was Logan, who looked at her with sad eyes.

"See ya, kid," he growled. She managed only a watery smile for him.

She stepped outside as quickly as she could, and quickly shut the door behind her. She leaned back against it weakly, trying desperately to fill her lungs with air. She blinked rapidly. She wouldn't cry. . .not over _him_, not over any of them. She'd been okay on her own to begin with, and she'd be okay now. She just. . .she just had to get away.

The scary thing was that she had no idea where she'd be going. She figured she'd just find a car along the highway, and hitchhike the rest of her way. It had almost worked before. Almost.

She didn't mean to let the tears go, but somewhere between the manicured lawn of Xavier's School and the forest, they'd started. Soon she couldn't see much of anything beyond the rivulets running down her face.

"Watch where you're going, chere!" a voice suddenly interrupted her self-pity, at the same time that a hard body sent her careening off the path.

"Hey!" she protested, brushing tears off her cheeks and windswept hair out of her face. "Who are you? What are you. . ."

"Shh," the strange man said. Rogue shrank away. He was so big. . .and those eyes. . .he had the eyes of a devil. She opened her mouth, prepared to scream for help. For the first time ever, she wished that she still had her powers. The man moved toward her, his eyes widening as he noticed that she looked ready to scream. He reached out a hand to cover her lips.

And all of a sudden Rogue stumbled back as a blond woman, a young man, and Ororo invaded her mind. The man's face paled, and his hand trembled. A moment later his eyes rolled up in his head and he fell to the ground. Rogue dropped her hands. She reached down to the man, and carefully reached toward the pair of cards that he held in his hand. She lifted them to her face, curious, when all of a sudden they lit up with a strange golden energy. Rogue yelped, and threw them as far from herself as she could. A minute later they exploded, and reflexively she threw herself over the unconscious man. Not like she could hurt him much more now, she thought.

She sat up a moment later, staring at her hands. "What dat be about?" she wondered. And why did this man remember Ororo? She sighed, and closed her eyes. Looked like her powers were back again. She should have known the vaccine wouldn't be effective. Her curse would be with her forever.


	2. Chapter 2

Ororo Munroe sighed as she watched the retreating back of the young girl. She hated having to ask Rogue to leave like that, but it was the simple truth. Ever since Hank had been assigned as ambassador to the United Nations, mutant acceptance had risen considerably, and parents around the nation had begun sending their children to the one school that would nurture and help them with their powers. They were quickly running out of room.

Still, she couldn't completely turn her back on the girl, even if, metaphorically and literally, Rogue had done that to her. She'd slipped her phone number into the girls suitcase, still packed from her short trip to the capitol. She'd rented an apartment for the girl, and provided for the first month of rent. If Rogue couldn't make it on her own, she'd have that to fall back on.

"You're just gonna let her go?"

Ororo sighed. The roaring voice wasn't hard to recognize. She didn't even bother to turn around, just shifted to the right a little to play with some of the potted flowers on one of the many stands that dotted the corridor.

"We don't have room for her here, Logan, you know that as well as I."

"But that kid doesn't have anything," he protested. "We gotta help her."

Ororo took a deep breath, and finally turned around. She searched her friend's face for a moment, trying to make sure he was calm and at least somewhat recovered from the events at Azkaban.

"I found her an apartment," she said. "And paid for a month of rent. There's nothing more we can do for her, Logan. She has to find her way in their world now."

He growled angrily, another reminder that he wasn't just a big hairy doof, but Wolverine. He raked a hand through his thick hair, frustrated.

"I think I'm gonna follow her for a bit," he said. "Just a day or two. Make sure she don't get in any trouble."

Ororo smiled. It was good to see him trying to do something productive for once, other than apparently trying to kill himself in the Danger Room.

"I think that sounds like an excellent idea," she agreed, and accompanied him as he headed down the staircase. He turned, apparently to give some kind of instructions, when the heavy front door suddenly flew open and Rogue walked in, dragging something behind him.

"Y'all want to give me some help with this?" she asked. Ororo and Logan glanced at each other worriedly, before walking forward to see what she had.

Ororo gasped as she looked down. It appeared to be some kind of a man, though his face was hidden by long brown hair, and his clothes were an assortment of dirty rags. To all appearances, he looked like some kind of hobo.

"Look, kid," Logan said uncomfortably. "You know we don't take in strays around here."

Rogue rolled her eyes. "I may have opted to give up my powers," she said, "but that doesn't mean I turned stupid. Look, hand me something you don't want."

"What do you mean?" Ororo asked. Rogue spotted another vase of potted flowers.

"Never mind," she said, dropping her grasp on the strange man and reaching out toward the flowers. A moment later the vase glowed golden, and then abruptly exploded. Ororo and Logan turned to stare at her in amazement.

"The vaccine didn't work," Rogue said. "I'm a mutant again."

"Welcome back," Ororo said, surprised. Rogue gestured toward the man on the floor. Logan instantly leaned down and hauled the man up, throwing him over his shoulders.

For a moment Ororo considered asking Rogue what had happened, but then bit back the question. The girl had always been sensitive about her powers; and the answer to the unasked question seemed fairly obvious. She must have met the man in the forest, and for one reason or another had physically touched him.

The professor only hoped that it had been a brief touch. Either way, there was nothing to be done for the man but find him a comfortable place to rest and recover. She followed Logan as he led the way to the infirmary, and Rogue followed close on her heels, head bowed in shame.

"Do you think he'll be alright?" she asked finally, as Logan deposited the man on a table. Ororo smiled at Rogue for a moment, before going to inspect the stranger.

"There's no way to know," she said as kindly as possible. She walked up to the man, and carefully brushed auburn hair away from his face. And there she froze, staring at him in shock and horror.

Logan said something, but it was just a babble of words. It couldn't be. . .

But there was no doubt about it. Remy LeBeau was lying unconscious, as still as death. She gasped, trying to push horrible memories from her minds. Clapping a hand to her mouth, she fled from the room, unable to deal with it all.

Logan and Rogue stared at her in surprise as the usually composed woman fled.

"What was that about?" Rogue asked. Logan shrugged his shoulders. He had no idea himself. Rogue shrugged, and began to leave, presumably to return to her room. Logan struggled with himself for a moment; wanting to allow the girl her space, as well as wanting to know what was going on. Curiosity won out, unsurprisingly.

"Hey, kid," he said, clapping a heavy hand on her shoulder. "Wanna tell me what's going on with this guy?"

The man stirred, groaning a little as his eyes blinked open. Rogue glanced at him significantly.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" she asked, before walking out of the room. Logan sighed and turned back as the man struggled into consciousness. He hated being a babysitter.


End file.
